when the dust of communication settled i had one rider joining me. met at the usual place, rolled at 8:40am, rode the usual route to elkins, where i wanted to nail down some trails through the west side. it was here that i had to pull out the map... yes don, i went analog... can you believe it?! 
the scale of the mvu map makes some of the crossings and intersections "fuzzy" so there's no other way than riding... what a bummer, right? travel slowed as i wanted to ride some trails i haven't been on, and avoid certain others that are beat up and whooped out.
due to navigation and various other circumstances, we hit pi pi around noon where my compadre asked a most interesting question... "we'll be back at the trucks by 2:00pm, right?"
houston, we have a problem! i remained analog, scoured the eldo nat'l forest map for the big picture, and had a solution - pin the slab to cooks station, refuel, and pin hwy 88 to the mud lake trail. i hate blowing through cooks... it's such a colorful place, and you can't be in too big a hurry anyway... you never know how many tries it will take 'em to actually get the fuel pump to work.
here we are at allen, our farewell point... look familiar?
we made arrangements to check in later... more for me, since i was by no means done with the day. it was only 1:15 and there was gobs of daylight, motivation, and energy left... how far is far enough?
continuing up to squaw ridge, i was grateful to be here again. squaw is a magnificent place with some of the best riding anywhere.
from here it was north on the ridge until i decided to wait and finish this section when i had company. back to the spot above for lunch.
it's a grand spot to refuel the bod and rest for what lies ahead.
one of the beauties of being on a ridge is the panaorama's are world class:
note: in the above photo, you may have picked up the headlight is not stock... it's a trail tech x2 hid. this piece of equipment will come in handy later.
i decided to drop back down and pick up another trail... it didn't matter which one, they're all good. it ended up being out to mud lake, but this isn't it... this is a little un-named lake just before mud:
approaching mud lake:
and... mud lake:
from this point it made sense to keep going on the long valley trail. i ran into the same scenario as squaw... more techy than i wanted to ride solo. this little jewel of a meadow is on the return to mud lake:
back up to squaw and off to hit the other end of the long valley trail... how far is far enough?
from the ridge south of the old plasse trading post (the lunch spot) is this view of pardoe lake in mokulmne wilderness:
the road ahead:
there's a great hill climb just south of the interesection of squaw ridge and the long valley trail, with yet another of those stellar panorama's:
spotted this thing from a distance and investigated...
looks like some critters are trying to make short work of this:
it sits here:
ok, it's 5:00pm and there's still the long valley trail to contend with. it was a fun ride to the middle, just short of where i turned around earlier around 3:45. i decided there's no turning back, i'm too close to connecting and i'm going through this section. but the camelbak is feeling exceptionally light, there's a great stream, and i know i'm gonna be workin' hard soon. i can't make fuel on the trail, but i can make water. and i found i can filter water in the midst of a mosquito swarm and manage not to get bit... man, i'm glad i opted for the higher output filter.
note: mike mc, i was soon thinking of your cussing and clutch burning comments... be glad you weren't here! what i really love are the signs stating to stay on the trail... hey, i'd be glad to oblige... if i could be positive where the trail definitely is. the only clue is the other moto tracks, which seem to be one way, os it's been done recently... don, rory, john, jp... were you here yesterday? and don, thanks for the lessons... it all came in handy here! when i got through this section, the gps showed i was west of the trail, and there was a trail intersection, but it didn't seem to be the trail the map showed.
with that out of the way i had some time on the ride out to think about where i was going next. i didn't wanna chance fuel, so that was a consideration. i knew the buck pasture trail had eluded me once more... that ever dangling carrot just out of reach. no matter... the day may not be young, but the summer is.
thinking there was gas at strawberry, i slabbed to the caples maintenance station. on the way there was this view of silver lake and treasure island:
the moon rising over red lake and stevens peak as i passed caples lake required a photo stop:
there were many dispersed campers along the road above the maintenance station, including my friends joey and jody. they thought it would taken, but were able to return to this spot they loved.
there were many other fantastic views, like this one on the way to the east end of the buck pasture trail:
on the way up and before the buck pasture trailhead, this marmot does what animals do... run along the trail to get away. when will they learn... just peel off. and a marmot running? i've seen tons of the little beasts, but never pinning it in top gear... which for them i think is second... there's all this effort, but not much action... pretty hilarious, except i was wondering about the little guys cardiac condition!
among the dispersed campers was a crew at the open landing at the beginning of the buck pasture trail. i wonder if they realized where they were perched... certainly an awesome spot! and i wish i had taken a photo, but i was about to ride unknown territory and i wanted to do it in daylight if i could. and that buck pasture trail was right there, too... calling out to me... next time.
10n13 over to strawberry was a hoot!!! i would love to ride this one the other way which is a climb. near the bottom was this:
i cut it off in the photo, but right below the no atv icon is open to moto... filing that away for the future.
a little further on was this meadow restoration project with a james fennimore cooper feel to it:
42 mile tract at the south fork of the american:
by now, some of you were wondering how long it would take me to find out there's no gas at strawberry, and what would i do when i found out... simple... 9 miles on hwy 50 to the silver fork store where mike and sabrina, the owners (and former owners of shilla sushi in camino heights - still a good place, same sushi chef), have fuel... and cold drinks, and good free water - mike scolded me last time for buying water... won't make that mistake again!
i had already decided i was better off taking my chances on the fire roads than with the holiday drivers. i had the track loaded in the gps, set the backlight to stay on and the track to stay up... just follow the red line... and don't "red line." here's a taste of what it looked like from the pilot's seat (this originally said c-o-c-k-p-i-t, but i guess big b had boshar put a profanity editor in... that big b seems to be able to get around!):
i think it's burrowing owls that sit in the middle of the trail at night. first i saw one... it lit out as i came up on it, jinked right. rolled left and was gone into the woods. shortly thereafter was a pair... hmmm, did i interupt something? they tried the marmot tactic and followed the road, and i was overtaking the slower one while trying to let it get away... mike mc's helmet cam would've shown some nice footage. i thought it was gonna perch on my visor... very cool experience. saw some beady little eyes some time later which i believe was a fox by the size and the way they moved. i've read the kitty cat attack stories... never been a moto rider, but there has been a mt. biker or two. i still believe my chances were better out here than with the tourons, a term i just learned from a friend who worked in yosemite - tourist morons.
as i crossed the first dam at sly park lake, the camping boaters i saw in the morning with the shoreline palace had this going on:
180 miles, 24,500 feet of elevation gain, 15-1/2 hours later, 9 of which was saddle time, what do i have to show for it? this ride report... and a dirty, slightly more scratched up bike... and really smelly gear... and a really tired body, that's what.
oh yeah, a huge smile and a feeling of complete satisfaction! would i do it again? after a good rest, in a heartbeat! so, 'til the next time, how far is far enough? i don't know... yet.